fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3550 ]

[ SECRET POST #3550 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3550 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

[Star Trek]

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages,08 secrets from Secret Submission Post #507.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Favorite books? Least favorite? Recommendations (yes please I need them!!)? What tropes are tired, which are classic?

So on a whim, I checked out a book from the library by R.A. Salvatore, I thought the name sounded familiar, and I haven't read any of his/her stuff. It's called Archmage (Book 1), and... like fifteen pages in, I gave up. I have no fucking idea what's going on, every other word is a made up fantasy word. What is going onnnn I can't do this.

RA Salvorate is the dude who wrote all the Drizzt books. And also a bunch of other novels for Forgotten Realms and stuff. He is a terrible writer.

My teenage self would like to argue with you, but as an adult: I agree.

He really is. I tried reading Drizzt not-as-a-young-teen, and holy shit it was bad.

+1

Like I loved them as a teenager but trying to read it as an adult? Eeehhh. Those books still have a special place in my heart but they aren't good, lol.

Yes, the back cover said this was about someone named Drizzt! Which I have no idea how to pronounce but whatever, I am guessing this is Dungeons and Dragons mythology. Even so, I seriously can't follow this. There's so much exposition with made up names - people, races, places, things, institutions, demonology, it's overload.

And I really wanted to read just a silly, simple, classic fantasy. :(

For silly simple classic fantasy - have you read the Belgariad, by David Eddings?

I would generally recommend him too, except the Elder Gods series. Althalus has a few Franchise Original Sins that Elder Gods - especially the last book - went overboard on (mainly the idea of time-travel being used to change history).

lol, according to Wikipedia this is apparently a book that's, like, 10 or 15 books into The Drizzt Saga. no wonder you couldn't make sense of it! especially combined with Salvatore's bad writing and Dungeons and Dragons.

Have you read, like, Martha Wells at all? Patricia McKillip? Lois McMaster Bujold's fantasy stuff? Delia Sherman? I didn't read it yet, but AM Dellamonica wrote a book called Child of a Hidden Sea a couple years back that looks really good.

Damn, it says "Book 1" on the cover. I need to learn not to be so trusting with fantasy series...

No, none of those people! I'll have a look if I can find them, thanks.

Re: Fantasy genre discussion!

mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com - 2016-09-23 06:30 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Fantasy genre discussion!

cbrachyrhynchos - 2016-09-23 16:16 (UTC) - Expand

Try Diana Wynne Jones! I think she fits what you're looking for and I love her.

Re: Fantasy genre discussion!

ketita - 2016-09-23 01:16 (UTC) - Expand

Barbara Hambly's fantasy novels age very well. (Lots of adventurey stuff, vivid, complex characters, interesting settings.)

Elizabeth Lynn is an old favourite, also.

Every time I run into NPC Drizzt in Neverwinter online, I have to start laughing because of all the ridiculousness.

His stuff isn't good. I tried reading it, but I couldn't make it through and I can make it through most fantasy.

For recs - is there something specific you like? I prefer to tailor recs to the reader.

Things I'm tired of mostly involve treatment of women. Let's have some cool women who don't get raped. I also want more angsty women with tons of pathos or who have the whole good-corrupted-by-evil-turns-good again type storyline with all the drama (like Ken Ichijouji, or Bucky or something).

Also I'm sick of prophecies. Prophecies don't even work that way! Have those people even read any real-world prophecies??? They tend to be vague, unclear, applicable to many people, and cause tons of issues when you start getting a critical mass going Messianic.
Dune got that aspect more right, but Dune has so many issues ugh.

Hmm, I generally like classic epic fantasy with good world building and lots of fantastical elements.

I can handle a little bit of damsel-ing, in regards to women, but I agree that weak, one-dimensional female characters are so frustrating. Honestly, I find myself more angry when they are made into badass assassins, because they are almost worst than damsels - they are constantly described as sexy black widows doing sexy killing who then fall in love with the hero and cry a lot.

I can also handle darker elements, but get turned off when it feels too... over-the-top.

Otherwise, really, I'm open to any fantasy that is a fun story and not too ridiculously convoluted (but nicely developed is a plus). Bonus points for gay characters/pairings.

Not so classic, but kind of a cool subversion is Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. It's pretty recent, but has good worldbuilding, a neat magic system, a plot with convolutions but not crazypants, and a very awesome female protagonist who is neither damsel nor sexy black widow.

The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula LeGuin (shhh it's a trilogy no more books nope). It's a little more quiet-and-contemplative type of adventure fantasy, but very good.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. It's got princesses and gods and all that stuff, but done really well. Lots of humor, strong characters, fun plot, and can be read as a standalone novel.

wow this is so difficult without my bookshelves in front of me T^T

I was thinking about The Curse of Chalion too. I still need to read the others in the series.

Re: Fantasy genre discussion!

(Anonymous) - 2016-09-23 01:35 (UTC) - Expand

Dragon’s Winter by Elizabeth Lynn might suit? It has a fair amount of Epic, and the gay relationship is fairly central to the plot.

I like the world-building in Brent Weeks' fantasy books.

I love lots of fantasy. But nothing beats Tolkien for me. I just adore his writing so much and his world. I hope to someday own everything he wrote and read it all.

Honestly I don't really think there are tired tropes. Fantasy is kind of all about tropes in some ways, and I don't mind that.

One of the great things I find about Tolkien is that it's really the world of Unbuilt Tropes. Most post-LotR fantasy tropes are actually Dungeons and Dragons tropes, which took the basics of Tolkien and twisted them slightly to file off the serial numbers, so to speak.

You should read The Last Unicorn! I usually have something to complain about all the books I read, but I couldn't find anything that bothered me in this one.

That one is a great book.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only